The blooming Gymea lilies would need a Council DA approval if they were any taller. The 20-year-old Canary Island palms and cycads are positively Jurassic. Everything is lush and green.

At different times of the year, and at every turn of the pebbled driveway there is something to catch your eye: the blood-dark flowers of Melianthus major against its grey-green foliage and, as the house comes into view, your breath is taken away by the fierce pink flowers of a huge Loropetalum tree.

Owners, Susan Brooks and Janis McAloon bought the property 12 years ago. Long before them, as far back as the early days of the district’s settlement, it had been used for farming tomatoes and citrus fruit. It later became a garden nursery, and then the home of a landscape gardener.

It has undergone dramatic revitalisations since then.

‘First we had to remove thousands of black plastic nursery pots, pavers and bricks, then identify all the critical trees we wanted to retain,’ says Susan. ‘We reworked the garden by designating separate lawns into discreet planted areas.’

One circular lawn is surrounded by waratahs, another is home to well-aged fruit trees: a mulberry tree with a beautifully gnarled trunk, and a lychee that flowered for the first time in its history last year.

In yet another lawn, a sequoia redwood stands, claiming the crown of tallest tree on the property at around 20 metres.

‘We also moved a few trees around to make a sub-tropical area and walkway,’ says Susan.

‘Two other trees were completely overgrown with wisteria,’ Janis adds. ‘It took both of us on ladders a week to cut it all back. We had no idea what was underneath – there were no leaves on the trees but, thankfully, they are thriving again now.

Paths meander through the gardens, past hydrangeas, winter roses, bottlebrush and oyster plants. A male cycad with a tall, pine-like cone at its centre grows within courting distance of a female cycad with the softest brown, flower-like cone and the beginnings of new seeds.

A bower bird has discreetly hidden his arched bower deep in a garden bed, complete with a seductive collection of blue clothes pegs, a blue feather and a scavenged blue bottle top to attract a Mrs Bowerbird. As we later sit on the terrace enjoying the tranquillity of our surrounds, we see proof of the seductive power of blue, as a Mrs B. flits from branch to branch in a nearby tree, obviously already at-home.

Visible from the house is a large drunken parrot tree (Schotia brachypetala) filled with lorikeets feasting on its rich and fermenting nectar. Those that may have over-indulged are sometimes found lying happily on the ground before they might be capable of passing a  breathalyser test to fly again.

When it is heavily in bloom with yellow flowers, Dirramu’s most spectacular tree is the South American Tipuana tipu. While dozens of large trees fell during a fierce storm in 2015, the Tipuana was slightly luckier when seven main branches became just four. Even so, it remains the broadest spreading tree on the property. At its base, a large bird’s nest fern and a staghorn thrive.

Leading from the Tipuana, a pathway lined with moonlight grevilleas continue the yellow blossom theme.

Towards the back of the property, large boulder-size rocks form part of a perimeter wall newly planted with orchids.

The last impenetrable area of the garden was furthest from the house. It had an old road going through it and housed a mud-brick structure. Today, lawns meander around tall eucalypts, edged by hedges and mounded areas with native grasses that shield the garden from neighbouring properties.

Close to the house is a willowy lemon-scented gum and when Janis mows the lawn around the tree, she says the fallen leaves stir up the most beautiful lemony aroma that makes mowing a joy. Nearby, a tupelo tree survived transplanting four years ago when it inadvertently lost all the earth around its roots. It has survived and thrives, giving Susan and Janis vibrant yellow and red foliage in autumn.

The house itself is designed for its occupants to fully enjoy the garden with panoramic windows that bring the outside in with a year-round changing vista.

‘What I love about this garden,’ says Janis, ‘are the expansive lawns, the exotics and the deciduous trees.’

For Susan, ‘it’s the sense of calm and joy.’